Stable carbon isotopic compositions of cholesterol in fossil bone of marine mammal for palaeodietary study

DOI Web Site 27 References
  • Shinmura Tatsuya
    Department of Natural History Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University:(Present office)Ashoro Museum of Paleontology
  • Sawada Ken
    Department of Natural History Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 骨化石中のコレステロールの炭素同位体組成を用いた海生哺乳類の古食性解析の研究
  • コッカセキ チュウ ノ コレステロール ノ タンソ ドウイタイ ソセイ オ モチイタ カイセイホニュウルイ ノ コ ショクセイ カイセキ ノ ケンキュウ

Search this article

Abstract

Dietary preferences of archaeological and paleontological animals have been conventionally investigated by stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) of collagen and tooth enamel in the fossil remains. However, no collagens in bones and teeth are generally preserved in fossil remains deposited older than million-order ages ago. On the other hand, it is known that lipids such as cholesterol and its diagenetic products are usually preserved in ancient fossil material. Therefore, the carbon isotope ratio of cholesterol (including its diagenetic products) in bones has been recently applied as alternative approach for reconstructing palaeodietary of animals. The advantages of this approach are that: (1) the δ13C value of cholesterol is correlated with that of bulk diet, (2) cholesterol can be detected from fossil bones older than million-order ages, (3) its diagenetic products such as cholestane do not occur naturally in skin lipids and soils. This paper reviews aspects of the carbon isotope signatures of bone cholesterol as a source of dietary information, and compared those to the conventional palaeodietary approaches by using the isotope analysis of bulk collagen and enamel.

Journal

References(27)*help

See more

Related Projects

See more

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top